Draft resolution on Palestine in UNSC to get needed majority of vote - Churkin

“I think it’ll certainly get nine votes. It may well be vetoed, but I have no doubt on the nine votes,” the diplomat told TASS

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UNITED NATIONS, December 20. /TASS/. The draft resolution on Palestine submitted to the UN Security Council will get the required 9 votes of the total 15 votes of the Security Council member states, Russia’s Permanent Representative to the UN Vitaly Churkin said on Friday. According to him, the document’s fate will be decided by position of the United States that may well use its veto right.

“I think it’ll certainly get nine votes. It may well be vetoed, but I have no doubt on the nine votes,” the diplomat told TASS. Churkin said the chances for getting the required majority of votes by the document will be even higher after January 1, when the non-permanent Security Council members will be renewed by half: the places of Argentina, Australia, Luxembourg, South Korea, and Rwanda will be taken by Angola, Venezuela, Spain, Malaysia and New Zealand.

According to the diplomat, there is no understanding at the moment where the Middle East peace process moved. “There is an understanding that the process has been deadlocked. And the question is how to get it moving,” said Russia’s permanent representative. According to him, Russia has “a very simple stance” on the Palestinian question. “They know that we understand them, support their steps,” Churkin said, adding that Russia supports Palestine in its aspiration to join the UN and the International Criminal Court. However, he said that the Palestinians must “calculate the consequences” of their actions.

The draft resolution of the UN Security Council submitted by Jordan on Wednesday gives 12 months for a comprehensive settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, which envisaged the creation of a “sovereign and viable” Palestinian State. The document, a copy of which was received by TASS also says that all Israeli forces must be withdrawn from the occupied territory no later than 2017.

The draft resolution submitted by Jordan says that a negotiated solution should be based on several parameters including the 1967 borders, security agreements, and “Jerusalem as the shared capital of the two States which fulfils the legitimate aspirations of both parties and protects freedom of worship.” The text also “calls upon both parties to abstain from any unilateral and illegal actions, including settlement activities that could undermine the viability of a two-state solution.”

Israel accepts the “two-state solution” of an independent and democratic Palestinian State alongside Israel, but has not accepted the 1967 borders as the basis for final negotiations, citing security and other concerns.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that he had sought reassurances from [U.S. Secretary of State] Kerry that Washington would block efforts to adopt the UN Security Council resolution.

On Thursday, Vitaly Churkin said that “the text [of the draft resolution] is good” and Russia was ready to support it. However, the diplomat said that the date for the document’s consideration had not been set yet. According to him, the authors of the draft resolution “will have to decide if they are ready to put it to a vote, or not.”.